Why The Ocean Matters, On Earth Day and Every Day

Peter Neill’s new book, The Once and Future Ocean: Notes Toward a New Hydraulic Society, offers an invitation to change the way we see and interact with the world. According to the book release, “The ocean holds the key to humanity’s survival. At a time when the world faces a multitude of potential calamities, from climate change to a struggling oil industry to rapid population growth, author and environmentalist Peter Neill, Director of the World Ocean Observatory, argues that the time is now to begin organizing our social, financial and political order around water in all its forms, places and uses.”

The book, “offers a bold vision for a practical and possible future, based on a revolutionary paradigm shift toward a ‘new hydraulic society’ that can be implemented through the political will of individuals who understand the necessity for change, the logic of a new moral alternative, and the reality of the consequences if we fail to act in time.”

“Ambitious in scope yet grounded in actionable, specific ideas and solutions for preserving the health of the world ocean, The Once and Future Ocean relies heavily on the scientific community’s contribution to information about the world ocean and is written with a deep familiarity with ocean policy. It is presented as a personal realization—equally rewarding read in one sitting or in segments—and is intended for a wide audience of ocean lovers–not limited to experts, academics, or policy-makers.”

“The Once and Future Ocean aspires to do nothing less than transform our relationship with the world’s most promising and imperiled natural element: the ocean and the inter-connected cycles of water, essential for all aspects of human survival. Accessible, powerful, persuasive, and lyrical, Neill’s new book is the clarion call for the ocean as the place that we must turn for fresh water, food, energy, health, political stability, security, community development, and personal renaissance. It argues for invention, new solutions, new answers to fundamental questions, and a new relationship built around the ocean as an inspiration for new ways of living that are within our grasp if only we have the courage to take hold.”